Gay and Knepper Lead Bears Past Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 62-57

BOX SCORE

St. Louis, Mo., November 19, 2010 – Seniors Caleb Knepper and Spencer Gay each scored in double figures as the No. 20 ranked Washington University in St. Louis men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 with a 62-57 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Friday night at the Gabe Miller Classic in Platteville, Wis.

Knepper connected on a career-high five three-pointers en route to a season-high 17 points, while Gay was 7-of-9 from the field for 16 points. Gay also added nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks in the win. Washington U. shot 48.9 percent (22-45) from the field in the win, while holding UW-Eau Claire to a 36.4 percent (20-55) clip.

Knepper was the story in the first half for the Bears, pouring in 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range. Knepper hit his fourth triple of the half to knot the score at 24-24, and he added a pair of free-throws to give Washington U. a 27-26 with less than a minute to play.

Wisconsin-Eau Claire held for the last shot, and got a lay-up by John Mielke at the buzzer to give the Blugolds a 28-27 halftime advantage.

Knepper ignited a 10-0 run with his fifth three-pointer of the game as the Bears broke a tie to go up 46-36 with 10:40 remaining. The Bears took their largest lead of the game at 52-38 with 7:55 remaining after a fast-break lay-up by freshman Alan Aboona before a UW-Eau Claire timeout. Aboona finished with nine points and four assists in his second collegiate game.

Marcus Ruh (12 points), Nick Craggs (11 points) and Mielke (11 points) all scored in double figures for Wisconsin Eau-Claire, which dropped its overall record to 1-1.

Washington University (2-0) takes on host University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday, Nov. 20, in the final game of the Gabe Miller Classic in Platteville, Wis.